He's Back
by hitachiintwinsfan989
Summary: It's been two years since Naru left. SPR remained together, Mai's in charge now. But Naru returns in time to see them take on their most dangerous case yet. Why is everyone keeping quiet when he asks about Mai? What could she have possibly done this time? And why is it that this things only target appears to be Naru? Is there more than what meets the eye on this case?
1. Chapter 1

**Day 1: Shibuya Psychic Research**

The door to SPR opened as a petit brunette stepped through, humming to herself. She placed her coat on the coat rack, but kept her bag with her.

Walking around, she looked at her old desk, the one she used when her boss was still in Japan. How long had it been since he left, two, three years now maybe?

She sighed, it was upsetting, but if he were to ever return she knew he would be no different. Yes she had confessed to him, yes he walked away, yes she expected that, he was a heartless jerk after all.

The brunette shook her head, heading to a door labelled Kazuya Shibuya. Every morning she stopped and she looked at the sign on the door. Why hadn't she changed that sign? Why hadn't her team mates? Because there was still that small hope that he would return.

She opened the door and stepped inside. Nothing had changed, his book shelves were still there, his desk, his chair, but now it was all hers.

She walked over slowly, placed her bag down and turned the small white laptop on the desk on. She looked at the time 7:15, an hour to pass before anyone else came.

The young woman sighed, running her hands through her now long hair. She looked in the mirror, black jeans and white button up shirt with a black blazer, that's what she wore.

Her hair hung loosely down her back as she walked around her desk. She picked up a small white card with her name, work company and telephone number on it.

_Taniyama Mai, Shibuya Psychic Research 555-0248_

She smiled at the small piece of paper before placing it back down.

Yes, this was Taniyama Mai, now 18, head of SPR and waiting on her friends to come to the office. She walked out her work room to get some tea. Along the way she looked at photos that hung on the wall. Most of them successful cases that were solved, and then there was the odd couple that were of the gang.

Then there was Mai's favourite, a photo of the gang from when she was still just an assistant. How they ever managed to get Naru and Lin in it, she'll never know.

She shook her head and walked into the kitchen. She slowly made herself some tea and walked back into her office. Mai then sat down and began typing away on her computer at previous cases that were a success.

Later that day, the SPR office was bubbling with joy. Masako, a celebrity medium, John, who had quite being a priest but was still allowed to perform exorcisms, Monk, who was a monk, Ayako, a shrine maiden and Yasuhara, a researcher for SPR.

Mai walked out of her office once she heard all the commotion. Masako smiled at her. Since Naru left, the two had gotten closer, she had ditched the Kami awful kimonos she wore and instead dressed in jeans and shirts.

"Good morning, Mai," Ayako smiled as she walked in with a tray of tea in her hands. Mai smiled at her.

"Morning guys, how're you all?" she asked. Monk responded by hugging her tightly, crushing her in the process. Hey, she may be the leader of SPR but didn't mean they weren't still as close as ever before.

Ayako then whacked Monk with her purse once Mai started turning red. The room laughed as Mai took a seat in the chair at the end of the table, gratefully taking a cup of tea.

"So, Mai, do we have any clients today?" Yasu asked as he looked at Mai, who placed her cup on the table.

"Just one, I think," she answered with a smile as she watched Monk and Ayako sit down.

"So, Naru still hasn't gotten in contact with anyone?" Monk asked as he looked at everyone for a second. Masako turned her nose up in the air, John looked down, Yasu frown, Ayako sighed and Mai just rolled her eyes, resting her chin on her fist.

"You expect him to?" Masako asked. "It's been two years and we've hear nothing, I'll be surprised if he ever came back," she stated with a tone of distaste.

"Masako, his twin did die remember," John reminded, Masako just turned her nose up even more. Mai laughed at her.

"What does it matter?" she asked, everyone looked at her. "We're doing fine without him aren't we?" she wondered as she looked at everyone else.

"All our bills are being paid, we're making more than enough money to pay everyone and afford new equipment, not to mention travel expenses," Yasu answered as he nodded his head.

"That's because we have someone who can handle the money," Monk stated as he looked at Yasu, who blushed slightly.

"Not to mention we're now Mai's a lot more experienced she helps with almost every case-,"

"Hey!" Mai cut Ayako off, but the rest of the team laughed as she pouted.

"Speaking of Mai helping," John spoke up. "Have you been seeing Gene lately?" he asked, Mai frowned.

"No, I think he might have finally crossed over. I hope he has, it's for the better," Mai stated as she smiled sadly. She was going to miss having him around, it was like having Naru around, only Gene was nice to her.

A small knock on the door caught everyone's attention. Ayako stood to her feet.

"I'll make more tea," she smiled. Yasu stood to grab a notepad and pen, John walked to open the door, while Monk and Masako stood by Mai, who also stood up.

In came a young man wearing a white coat. His hair was brown and his eyes a light blue. He looked quite sophisticated to Mai.

John lead him over towards the table, Mai reached her hand out to shake it.

"Good morning, Sir, my name's Taniyama Mai, I run SPR," she smiled.

"Doctor Yabashi, name to meet you, Taniyama-san," Yabashi smiled as he shook Mai's hand. Just then Ayako walked in with a tray of tea as they all sat down.

"Don't let anyone here intimidate you, this is the rest of my team, Monk," Monk nodded, "Ayako," Ayako smiled, "Masako," Masako shook Yabashi's hand, "John," John greeted him with his warm smile, "And Yasu," Mai finished as Yasu smiled at the man.

"Nice to meet you all, thank you for having me," Yabashi smiled at Mai, who nodded her head.

"Everyone deserves a chance, now, what can we help you with?" she asked as she looked the doctor up and down.

"Well, you see, I work in the next town in a local hospital, and recently a lot of the patients have gone missing or have died, which is quite unnerving. We've had the police in a number of times but the missing have never been found. We've recently had to shut the hospital down, but I'm afraid we're going to have to reopen it soon because there are so many injured and sick that the other hospitals are overflowing. But we really don't want to open it in case the disappearances start up again," the doctor explained as he looked at Mai with pleading eyes.

"It's quite normal for people to die within a hospital," Monk stated as he looked at the doctor.

"However, disappearances are not. Is there any physical signs of their being a haunting?" Mai asked as she looked at the doctor who hesitated slightly.

"Patients have ended up with weird cuts and gashes throughout the night, some have had hand prints on them and one….." the doctor trailed off.

"One what?" Mai encouraged. The doctor sighed.

"One said they saw something… inhumane…. And then, to erase the image, cut their own eyes out. The nurses are scared, as are we, and we don't want to open back up to the public if it's still like this," Yabashi explained as he looked at Mai, who nodded her head.

"We'll take the case, however, there are a few requirements that we will need to meet first," she stated as she looked at Yabashi, who nodded his head.

"Anything," he replied.

"We'll need three rooms, two to sleep in, one for base. A file of all the missing patients and patients who have been injured. I want to see staff who have seen anything to come for questioning. But most of all, I want everyone out of that hospital until I say it is safe to go back in, understand?" Mai made her arrangements, the doctor agreed to them all and then Yasu discussed the costs and when they would arrive.

Mai stood as the doctor left, the team knew what to do. Without a word, Masako began helping John prepare for exorcists, Monk and Ayako began getting the equipment out, while Yasu went to his desk to copy his notes up.

Mai walked to her office to type up the important parts of the interview and create the next case file.

* * *

Miles away, a young black haired man laid on a bed, besides him were two large suitcases, fully packed. He ran his hands through his hair as he sat up; his door slowly opened revealing a tall man.

"Noll, is everything ok?" he asked as he looked at the younger man. The young boy looked up.

"Everything's fine Lin," he replied.

"Then are you ready to leave?" Lin asked, Noll looked at his bags before thinking of where they were going. A young brunette popped into his head and he slowly nodded.

"I'm ready," he answered as he grabbed his bags. Lin smiled at the young man as they walked down the stairs. At the bottom, two people waiting for them, both middle aged, smiling at the two young men.

"Noll, Lin, we're so sad to see you leaving again," the man stated.

"Well, it's been two years, father," Noll replied as he looked at the man, who smiled at him.

"We're going to miss you," his mother said as her eyes welled up with tears, Naru hugged her tightly.

"Take good care of my boy," Mr Davis ordered to Lin, who nodded his head.

"Of course," he replied.

With a final goodbye, Lin and Noll were out of the house, heading towards the airport.

"We should be in Japan by tomorrow morning," Lin spoke as he looked to see Noll looking at a photo of him and Lin with SPR. Lin smiled slightly, but never said anything.

"I guess I should start calling you Naru again," he stated after a long moment of silence. At this, Noll couldn't help but smile. The minute he and Lin would walk into that office everything would be back to normal and he would be called Naru once more.

But Naru couldn't have been more wrong.

* * *

**Hey, how's everyone doing? Been a while since I've been in this part of FanFiction. So anyway, yeah I'm back, nice to see everyone again. So for now, nothing to say, no questions or anything raised. So, I guess it's just a case of review and I'll catch ya next chapter. REVIEW!**


	2. Naru, Lin?

**Day 2: Morning, Shibuya Psychic Research**

Stuck to the door that morning was a white piece of paper. 'CLOSED! SORRY FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE'. Naru sighed as he pulled the sign off the door, thinking the others had abandoned the business, and slowly walked inside. Lin followed casually behind him.

Naru was slightly shocked as he looked around the tidy office, the smell of tea hung in the air, a stacked pile of papers sat on what used to be Mai's desk. The sofas and chairs had also been rearranged.

Naru turned slightly to Lin and saw a large brown coat hanging on the rack behind him. Naru's eyes narrowed as he vaguely remembered it to be Miss Matsuzaki's coat. But then… surely someone would be here.

Lin walked around Mai's old desk and looked at the files that were stacked on it.

"It seems they've gone to a hospital in the next town over, from what I can tell, we've just missed them," Lin noted as he looked at a sheet of paper. From outside, voices could be distinctly heard.

"Trust you to forget it," a male voice hissed.

"Well if you'd reminded me like I asked," a female voice seethed back.

"Well, is it my-," the voice suddenly stopped as the door was kicked open. An angry looking Ayako and an alert Monk soon stepped in the room. Their faces turned to pure shock as they looked at the two males standing before them.

"Lin, Naru," Ayako whispered. Monk stood there, looking between the two, gaping like a fish. Lin and Naru stood in silence as they comprehended what had just happened.

"Monk, I would be grateful if you wouldn't kick the door to my office open," was the first thing that slipped from Naru's mouth. At this, Ayako went bright red. She stormed up to him and with a swift movement, she slapped him.

The slap slowly brought Monk back to his senses as he quickly walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder, Ayako shrugged him off.

"How _dare _you?" she growled through gritted teeth. "You leave for two years, no contact what so ever, and you come back in here and call this _your _office?" Ayako slowly began to lose her temper as she balled her fists, face turning slightly red.

"Ayako," Monk warned as he looked at her, his eyes narrowed as he gave her a knowing look. But it was a look that also said 'you-know-what's-gonna-happen'.

"We apologise," Lin spoke as he stood behind Naru, who was holding his stinging red cheek in shock. "But the door was left open and we thought that you had abandoned SPR," he added on the end, giving then a look a father would give a child if they had done something wrong.

This caused Ayako to glare at the older man.

"If you had _called _us, just _once_, you have known we would _never _abandon this place," she seethed. Monk placed his hand on her shoulder again and gripped it tightly, the older woman began forcing herself to calm down.

Monk looked up at Naru and Lin, Naru had composed himself once more. Ayako turned to grab her coat.

"I think you should leave," Monk started. "We've taken the business over, signed papers and everything's going well. You'll only mess things up if you come back," he added as he turned around.

"The door still says Shibuya Psychic Research, and therefore, the company still has my name," Naru stated as he looked at the back of Monk's head. Monk slowly turned his head, he scoffed lightly.

"I'm afraid it doesn't, Oliver," and with that Monk followed Ayako out of the building.

As they walked, Ayako muttered about how Naru was obnoxious and other things, while Monk began to think.

"Ayako, Monk!" the two turned around to see Lin running after them. "I know Naru's done wrong in not calling, he knows it too. But it's hard to get over the loss of a loved one, especially his twin. Let us come and help with the case at least, Naru wants to get back into this," Lin explained as he looked at the two, Monk narrowed his eyes as Ayako looked away.

"I'll wait in the car," she said as she left Monk with the decision of what was going to happen.

"Lin, it's not that I don't want you to, it's that Mai won't be very happy if Naru tries to take over the case," he stated as Naru walked up behind Lin.

"I won't do that unless it looks necessary," Naru spoke as he walked up to them. Monk looked at him with doubt but sighed as he shook his head.

"Fine, fine, I'm gonna get in so much shit for this. Just, don't piss Mai off," he sighed as they slowly began walking to the car. Lin and Naru jumped in the back, while Monk got into the front.

"We should hurry, Mai, Yasu, Masako and John are going to be waiting for us," Ayako stated as she looked in the rear-view mirror at Naru.

"How is Mai?" he asked, Ayako slowly narrowed her eyes.

"Fine," she answered.

"Has she figured anymore of her-,"

"So Ayako, what we thinking of eating tonight?" Monk asked, butting into the conversation, not liking where it was going.

"Whatever the others feels like," Ayako answered as she turned the radio on.

* * *

Yasu paced around outside a decent sized hospital in the next town over. He was starting to go crazy, Monk and Ayako should have been here and _hour _ago.

"Yasu, calm down, they'll come," John reassured as he looked around the, almost empty roads.

"This place gives me the creeps," Mai stated as she looked around.

"The fact that no one dares to come near it isn't a very comforting thought either," Masako added as she looked at the hospital then down the road.

"Here they are," John smiled as he saw Monk's car roll up. Mai and Masako looked at the hospital, neither of them sensing anything wrong with it.

"About time you guys got-," Yasu stopped dead in his tracks once he saw Naru and Lin step out the car, John also froze in shock.

"Yasu, what's wrong? It's not like you to stop talking," Masako joked as she turned around. Her eyes widened as she looked at Naru, then Lin. Slowly, she tugged Mai's arm.

"Hm, what is it?" Mai asked as she turned around. Unlike the others, Mai didn't seem fazed by seeing him or Lin. She looked at Monk and Ayako, who both stood to the side, scratching their necks.

Mai felt anger fire up in the pit of her stomach as she looked at the two of them, but that fire ignited more as she looked at Naru in front of her. Keeping her business composure, she slowly walked up to Naru.

Masako, John, Yasu, Monk and Ayako watched from behind her with curiosity and anticipation of what she would do.

"Dr Davis," Mai noted as she looked at Naru, who looked her in the eyes. Mai noted that his eyes weren't as cold as before, but they still held no emotion at all.

"Mai," Naru spoke, Mai grew angrier at his formality with her.

"Is there something I can assist you with?" she asked. She was almost as tall as the narcissist now, he was but a few inches taller than her.

"No, we just came to help," Naru answered as he took in Mai's appearance, she had changed, though he had to say, he did prefer her with her long hair. Mai scoffed.

"I'm afraid we don't need help, Dr Davis, you can leave," Mai replied as she turned her back to Naru, Lin frowned as he walked over to Mai.

"Mai-," Mai glared at Lin. "Taniyama-san," Lin corrected, Mai nodded. "May I please speak to you in private?" he asked. Again, Mai nodded and followed him off to the side, leaving the rest of the group awkward with Naru.

"What is it, Koujo-san?" Mai asked, Lin ignored the formality.

"I know Naru has done wrong, but all we want to do now is help you. He won't try to take control of the case and he won't order you around. He only wants to get back into hunting ghosts, give him a chance. The minute you tell us to leave, we will leave," Lin offered as he looked at Mai. Mai looked at Lin, to Naru and the group, who were stood in silence, and then back to Lin.

"Fine, but you both do as I say, otherwise you're straight out," Mai replied as she narrowed her eyes. Lin nodded slowly, saying nothing else as the two of them slowly walked back over to the group.

"Koujo-san and Dr Davis will be joining us for the case," Mai spoke as they arrived back over, breaking the awkward silence. "Please, be kind to them as you would anyone else," she added on. The group looked at her in shock, but Naru only looked at Lin, who was watching the group with careful eyes.

* * *

**I think here is where I end the chapter today, technically it was supposed to be uploaded yesterday, but I had a concert. Sorry it's not as long, the next one should be longer.**

**So, I hope everyone's enjoying it so far, and if you haven't already, check out my other Ghost Hunt stories. **

**Also, I have a favour to ask everyone, please check out &Abide on Facebook, they're a small upcoming band from my home town, help me support them and get them as many likes as possible please. They're due to release their first album this month as well, just check them out, you'll love them. What We Have by them is now on Facebook as well.**

**Other than this, please just review and let me know what you think of the chapter, thanks, I'll see you soon. REVIEW!**


	3. What To Do

**Day 2: Afternoon, Shikaya Hospital**

Mai and the team began to set up base in one of the conference rooms at the hospital. Monk, John, Yasu, Lin and Naru carried in the large monitors, while Mai, Masako and Ayako carried in the microphones, wires and thermometers.

They set everything down on one large table before Mai looked around. The room was spacey, more spacey than what most of their rooms were like now. Unfortunately though, they had to sleep in patients room, it wasn't exactly as private as Mai would have liked it to be then.

But then again, she would much rather be inside the building where anything could happen then in a nearby hotel where they could miss anything. Choices were simple when it came to figuring out where to stay.

"Right, Monk, John, Ayako, Masako, you four know what to do," Mai spoke as she looked at each individual. They nodded their heads, crabbing, cameras, mics and wires before heading off. Yasu and Mai began carrying the monitors over to a larger table that they would be set up on.

"Lin-san, could you and Dr Davis please bring the wires over for us?" Mai asked as she and Yasu began setting up the monitors. Lin and Naru both grabbed the wires as they walked over to the two of them.

Mai turned around, grabbed the wires from Naru's hands, their hands brushed and Mai felt a jolt of electricity run through her, as did Naru. The two looked at each other before Mai turned around, her face turning slightly red.

Lin watched the two with a knowing glint in his eyes, but no one saw it. Yasu looked up as the lights above them turned brighter.

"Mai," he whispered, Mai sighed as she breathed steadily, calming herself down. The lights then went back to their original brightness. Yasu breathed a sigh of relief, while Naru and Lin looked slightly confused.

Soon, the wires were set up, the monitors intact and the temperatures of every room taken and recorded down. On the monitors in front of Lin were images of every room, the final one being set up.

Mai stood behind Lin with Naru and Yasu by her.

"That alright Mai, can you see everything?" John's Australian accent came from the speakers. Yasu looked at the screen then at Mai, Mai nodded.

"It's perfect for now John, we'll keep monitoring that room," she answered, John looked at the camera confused. Both Mai and Yasu could make out a small square pattern on the wall of the room, gaining both their curiosities.

Mai then turned away from the screens and waited for the others to come back into the room. She sat at the small table in the middle with Yasu, Naru and Lin, who joined them as well.

The door to base opened and the others walked in. Monk and Ayako sat opposite Mai and Naru, who were sat together, causing quite a shock to them. Masako looked at them before smiling.

"Mai, shall I make some tea?" she asked. Mai turned her head to Masako before nodding.

"If it's not too much trouble, please," she answered. Masako smiled again before walking out the room with John following her. Mai picked her bag up and took out some information that the Dr had given her beforehand.

"According to the Dr, we have four nurses that should appear sometime today, if not today, early tomorrow. The patients who have been hurt are refusing to come in to speak to us. So that leaves us with the only option of going to them," Mai began to speak. "Ayako, I would like you to interview the nurses coming here, please don't shout at them, they're quite frightened to be back in here, Yasu I want you to accompany her," Mai ordered, Ayako and Yasu nodded their heads.

The doors to the room opened before Mai had the chance to speak again, Masako and John walked in with two trays of tea. They handed the tea out and Mai got straight back to work.

"John, I would like you and Koujo-san to go to these addresses and talk to the patients who have been injured, ask them anything that seems necessary," Lin seemed shocked that Mai was sending him with John, but figured she must have some logic behind it, therefore he didn't argue with her.

"What shall we do Mai?" Monk asked as he and Masako stood up.

"Monk I want you to go into the rooms where the temperature is lowest and conduct and exorcism. Masako accompany him, if you don't sense anything in the room, stop and move onto the next, be careful," Mai ordered.

"And what about you and," Yasu looked at Naru, "Dr Davis," asked, knowing he would be going with Ayako to make sure that she didn't lash out at any of the nurses, Ayako sometimes did that these days.

"Dr Davis will accompany me around the hospital, I would like to look into every place this building has," Mai answered as she looked at everyone, they all seemed weary as to letting her go with Naru, but they knew better than to argue with her.

"What time do you want us to leave?" Ayako asked as she looked at the brunette. Mai looked at the sun, high in the sky.

"I want you to gather your things and leave soon, return before nightfall. Masako, I would like to speak with you privately before you leave," she requested, the team nodded as they began gathering their things quietly.

Masako walked over to Mai and the two girls left the room in order to talk without anyone else. They walked down the hall and into another room.

"Mai," Masako started, Mai stopped and turned towards her. "I don't like it here," Masako spoke as she started to shake slightly, Mai turned to her.

"I was wondering if you could feel it," she stated.

"Mai, whatever's in here, it's angry and all it wants is blood," Masako whispered as Mai looked at her. She could feel Masako's fear, and she was scared too. Mai sighed.

"Masako, how many spirits can you feel here?" she asked, Masako took a deep breath in.

"A few, but there appears to be one that's the angriest," she answered, Mai didn't like the fear Masako was giving off, it was the scaredest she had ever seen Masako and it was even worse now she could feel it as well.

"I'm sorry, Mai. Being able to feel how scared I am must repulse you," Masako apologised.

"It doesn't repulse me, Masako, but it's giving me second thoughts as to whether you should be here," Mai replied. Masako looked up in shock.

"You can't send me home, I- I'm not going to abandon a case before it's even started!" she yelled slightly. Mai smiled at her.

"That's the spirit, just try not to be scared," she replied, Masako nodded her head.

"I know, ever since that case in-,"

"Masako, we said we'd never speak of that again! What happened happened! There was no stopped it!" Mai almost yelled at the girl, Masako lowered her head and nodded lightly. The two girls then walked out of the room and towards base again.

"We should go get them, they've been gone a while," Ayako mused as she looked at the group. Monk shook his head.

"When Mai says privately, she means privately," Yasu reminded Ayako with a look everyone, minus Lin and Naru knew all too well.

"I know, I just, there's something about this place I don't like," she stated as she looked around the room to the monitors.

"Tell me about it, anyone else feel like they're in a horror movie?" Monk asked as he looked at the deserted corridors on the screens.

"Please, our whole life's a horror movie," Yasu laughed as the door opened.

"Whose life's a horror movie?" Masako asked.

"I thought you guys would be gone by now," Mai mused as she looked at everyone. Naru looked up from a book he was reading.

"They wanted to make sure you and Miss Hara were alright," he replied, putting his book down in the process, Mai nodded her head.

"Right, well, we'll be leaving now Mai," John smiled as he and Lin started for the door.

"Koujo-san," Lin turned to Mai. "You'll need these," Mai replied as she threw the keys to the van at Lin, he nodded at her in response. Monk and Masako then exited the room, ready to perform exorcisms, while Ayako left with Yasu accompanying her. Mai was then left in the room with her old Narcissistic boss.

"Shall we leave as well, Mai?" Naru asked as he walked up behind Mai, she didn't turn to look at him but merely walked ahead of him instead. Naru closed his eyes, sighing silently as he walked out of the room with her.

This case was going to be a long one.

* * *

**It's not as long as the first two, but oh well, chapter 3 of He's Back now completed, hope everyone enjoyed, please review and I shall see you all later. REVIEW!**


	4. It Begins

**Day 2: Dusk, Shikaya Hospital**

Dusk descended quickly on the hospital. The remaining yellow light from the sun gave off an eerie glow in the operating rooms and in some of the patient's room.

Mai and Naru walked around the third floor of the hospital, how the guys had managed to set the cameras up so quickly, Mai would never know.

There was something off about the hospital, yes it felt like a horror movie, but Mai couldn't sense any ghosts, spirits or anything beyond that in the hospital anymore. She frowned; she knew they didn't just give up.

Naru walked at the side of her. He has looked her over more than once. Her long brown hair, how it fell in her face, how gracefully she pushed it back. He noticed all the things that clients and friends wouldn't about her, like how her shirt was a little too tight for her chest. The way she walked faster past certain rooms and slower past others.

The way her face moved when she was confused and the way it relaxed when she had figured something out. He noticed all the small things, and quite frankly all he could do was admit Mai had grown up.

"Why are you staring at me?" Mai asked rather irritated as she turned to glare at the dark haired narcissist. Naru looked away, he hadn't realised he had been staring.

"I was just wondering why everyone put you in charge when Monk would have been a better option," he answered as he looked at the brunette. She glared harder at him.

"That's none of your business-,"

"But it is, after all _you _took over _my _company and I would like to know why. I mean it's pretty obvious that you won't be able to figure this case out, even with the others," Mai had had enough; she grabbed Naru's wrist and slammed him against a wall.

"Listen here you narcissistic bastard. If you think I can't handle this case, then get the fuck out, the _only _reason I am letting you stay is because Lin asked me to. I'm in charge here and if you think I'm going to put up with _any _bullshit from you, you must be fucking insane," Mai growled as she looked at Naru, the lights around them suddenly smashed and Naru could have sworn he saw Mai's eyes changed.

But before he could determine it, Mai turned away and left down a small corridor to the left of them. Naru stood in shock for a moment as he looked at the pieces of glass on the floor. He then remembered the anger and hate in Mai's eyes, he just had to go and say something to set her off.

But Naru could never remember her being this aggressive, in fact he couldn't remember he being aggressive at all. She had a temper on her yes, and she hated him sometimes, but she had never done anything like _that_!

Naru soon remembered that he was alone and quickly followed after Mai, completely oblivious to the figure watching him.

Mai entered base to a worried looking Ayako and Yasu. Mai walked passed them and sat down on one of the seats.

"What happened?" Yasu asked.

"One minute we were interviewing the next the lights smashed," Ayako stated just as Naru walked in the room. Mai looked at him, as did the other two, Ayako glared.

"What did you do?" she hissed at Naru, who just looked at them, not understanding what they meant.

"Ayako, leave it," Mai ordered as she stood up. Masako and Monk soon came into the room smiling and laughing.

"We exorcised every single room," Monk stated as he looked at Mai, who nodded her head. Masako looked at her.

"Did you sense it too?" she asked, Mai looked at her.

"Like the spirits just disappeared? Yeah I did," Mai answered as she walked over to a window. "We're just waiting on the others to return now," she added as she saw a white van pull up into the car park.

"I'll go make some tea," Ayako smiled as she started to walk out the room, Mai felt her heart race as everything slowed down for a moment.

"Ayako," Ayako stopped. "Let Monk accompany you," she ordered, Ayako frowned at her.

"But it's only for tea, I'm only going down the-,"

"It wasn't a request," Mai looked up with a glare, Monk soon ushered Ayako out the room to go get the tea. Mai, Masako, Yasu and Naru sat around the table in silence waiting for the others to return.

"Well, this is very comfortable," Yasu laughed nervously, Naru ignored him, Masako smiled slightly and Mai sighed.

"How's university going Yasu?" Mai asked, knowing how he hated awkward silences. Yasu perked up at this.

"It's brilliant my classes are really going underway, I have a few exams coming up in a couple of days so I'll need to leave the case for them, but I'll be back the following day, unless you solve it without me," he answered, Mai nodded her head.

"I might send you a few requests while you're out of this building," Mai replied. "How will you be getting back?" she asked.

"Well I was hoping Monk would give me a ride," Yasu answered.

"Ride to where?" Monk asked as he walked in with Ayako, Mai frowned.

"A ride to your heart so I can see what you feel about me," Yasu answered as he looked at Monk with starry eyes and grabbed his hands.

"Stop doing that Yasu, you know it creeps me out!" Monk glared at the younger boy, who only laughed.

"Ok, ok, but I need a ride back into town in a couple of days. I have some exams coming up," he explained.

"Shouldn't you be in university now then?" Naru asked as Ayako handed him some tea. Yasu looked a little sheepish.

"Well, yeah, but I'm one of the best so I got some time off and everything," he laughed slightly, Naru just looked away from the boy.

The lights suddenly started flickering, all eyes, minus Naru's fell on Mai, who stood to her feet.

"John and Lin!" Masako gasped. The team rushed out of base and down the stairs of the hospital.

"JOHN!" Masako yelled as they ran.

"LIN!" Naru yelled, where the hell were they?

Lin had summoned his shiki to fight off a figure that was walking towards them slowly. John took his bible and holy water out and started to say his normal prayer.

"I don't understand," Lin growled as the figure got closer to them, his shiki having no effect on them.

"Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name," John opened his eyes to see the figure had stopped in its tracks.

"Carry on John, it's doing something," Lin spoke as his shiki surrounded them.

"Thy kingdom come, thy will be done," John continued.

A loud roar rang throughout the hospital. The team followed it and found John and Lin stood against a wall, cornered by a black figure. Masako stopped in her tracks, the anger, the hate, everything that thing was, it was too much for her to handle.

"LIN!" Naru yelled as he ran closer.

"Naru STOP!" Yasu called as he looked at Ayako and Monk who had started chanting.

"You idiot!" Mai growled as she started running after him. Naru made contact with the figure, tackling it out of the way of John and Lin, he quickly stood to his feet again, but this time the figure was in front of him.

Its cold hands gripped Naru by its neck and lifted him into the air. Mai stopped in her tracks, the thing was fast, the chants seemed to have no effect on it. She saw blood trickle down the side of Naru's next.

"John! You and Lin get out of here!" she ordered, John quickly helped Lin to his feet. Lin had ordered his shiki back on the figure, but they still had no effect.

Once Lin was behind Mai, John passed her and gave a small nod. Mai looked at the figure, their eyes met and her eyes began to glow.

The figure suddenly dropped Naru and quickly left. Naru gasped, gripping his heck as he tried to regain his breath. Lin ran back towards him with SPR following him.

Mai looked down the hallway, the figure stood there, smirking, licking its fingers clean of Naru's blood.

"We need to get him back to base," Ayako ordered as Lin lifted Naru to his feet. John walked to Masako and wrapped his arm around her shoulder; she looked at him, her eyes terrified as she tried to comprehend what that thing was. Ayako and Yasu followed Lin, while Jon and Masako remained put, Monk walked up to Mai.

"Mai-,"

"It's watching us," she whispered as she looked into the figure's eyes once more. Monk looked down the hall but saw nothing.

"Come on, we're going back to base. Masako, John, let's go," Monk ordered, Masako and John slowly followed behind Mai and Monk as they walked into base.

Naru was getting his neck tended to, Lin stood over him and Yasu was looking over the monitors as Mai and the others walked in.

"Mai," Yasu hissed as he glared at the girl, he grabbed her by the arm and dragged her outside the room. Monk looked confused until he saw what was on one of the screen; he quickly went over and erased it.

"What they heck were you thinking?" Yasu growled. "You were gonna-,"

"Yes I was, I don't care what happens to Oliver, but if he's here under my watch and I can stop him from getting killed then I will do it," Mai interrupted.

"But there are other ways to do it, you could have used your magic instead of trying to let that, that _thing _try and-,"

"Yasu," Mai cut him off once more. "I know what I am doing and I know how far I can and cannot go. Now I don't want to hear anything about this again, and especially not so close to base where Oliver and Lin can easily hear us," she hissed at Yasu before walking back into base.

Yasu sighed, sometimes there was no way of getting through to Mai and sometimes there were. He guessed Naru's return must have triggered some stubbornness in her and now she wouldn't listen to reason with him.

"Mai, where do we go from here?" Ayako asked as she finished with Naru's neck. Mai took a seat at the table once again and looked at everyone.

"I want to know what the nurses said, what the clients said and what Masako felt when each room was exorcised. While I'm gathering that, Yasu, Lin look on the computers and see what you can find out about this hospital in the past. Once we have all this information then I'll know where to go from there," Mai answered as everyone sat around.

Yasu and Lin pulled out laptops and started researching, while Ayako and John looked rather uncomfortable at having to repeat some of the information given to them, but it was the only way to solve the case.

With no one paying attention to the screens, no one noticed the figure sneak into the hidden door that Mai had spotted in one of the patient's rooms.

* * *

**So, yeah, I'm gonna leave it here, please review and I shall update this as quickly as I can, until then I'll see you all very soon. REVIEW!**


	5. Information

**Day 2: Evening, Shikaya Hospital **

"Ayako," Mai spoke in a soft voice, Ayako sat down on a seat opposite her and handed her a list of things the nurses had spoken about multiple times.

"These are only the ones I noted down that they spoke of multiple times," Ayako stated, Mai nodded her head. "The most common thing that everyone has seen is the patients being dragged from their beds towards room 45B on the fourth floor. However, others have said they've heard strange noises from the room and that the temperature will drop inconsiderably. The nurses haven't placed anyone in that room for a while because they're too scared to even go in there," Ayako began explaining.

"That seems to be the most common occurrence," Yasu added on. "However, there have been times when the nurses have found a bloody hand print on a patients leg and then a few days later the patients have just dropped dead," he stated.

"What do you mean, dropped dead?" Monk asked.

"Exactly that," Yasu answered. "They could be walking and the next they'll just die, or they could be eating and then they just drop dead," he explained, Mai nodded her head.

"Anything else?" she asked.

"Turns out one of our nurses was a victim. Whatever haunts this place must have taken a liking to her because it followed her," Ayako spoke as she handed Mai some photos. "She refused to set foot in the building so we did her interview outside, she let us take these photos of her wounds," she explained, Mai looked at the photos and frowned.

"How many people know she was attacked?" she asked.

"No one," Yasu answered. "She said we were the first she'd ever told and she seemed pretty shaken up at the fact that she could die within the next forty-eight hours."

"Forty-eight hours?" Masako asked, Yasu nodded his head.

"Everyone who was marked or attacked died after a week, she was marked five days ago, just before they moved everyone out the hospital," he answered, Mai nodded her head.

"Ayako, start making charms, I'm not sure what good they'll do, this spirit seems angrier than what we're used to," Mai explained as she sighed. "John, what did you find out from the patients?" she asked. John just frowned.

"They were basically the same results, fortunately none of them have been marked since they moved out," he answered.

"That's good, but if this thing can move where it wants when it wants then we're missing something," Mai mused aloud as she looked at the pieces of paper in her hands. She stood up. "Monk, Masako, what were your results?" she asked.

"Massive temperature drops, so much you could see yourself breathing," Monk started. "Masako said there were spirits who were surrounding me, but after the exorcist they left," he added.

"I couldn't sense anything after that, but there's still an angry presence here and it wants us gone. It seems even angrier now we've done an exorcism on the hospital, but it seems slightly weakened," Masako explained as she closed her eyes slightly. Mai nodded her head.

"Right, Ayako, start working on those charms. Yasu, in the morning, I want you to go to the library and find out anything you can on this hospital, go to local hospitals and ask doctors there if they know anything. Then I want you to go home and study for your exams," Mai ordered, Yasu and Ayako nodded their heads. "For now, I want everyone to sleep," Mai added as she looked at everyone, giving a glare at Naru and Lin.

"What about the monitors?" Lin asked.

"Everyone includes you Lin-san," Mai answered as she looked at him. "The monitors won't be going anywhere; we can rewind them in the morning. You're of no use to me if you're tired," she added as she, Ayako and Masako walked towards their rooms.

Ayako started making the charms with the help of Masako while Mai stood facing the door.

"Mai, are you sure it's necessary to do it this time?" Ayako asked as she looked up at Mai, who nodded her head.

"I like to be able to know if my team members are in danger," she answered, Ayako sighed as Masako walked over to her.

"Just don't overdo it," she spoke as Mai's eyes began glowing red. Her hands soon followed, sending small red beams through the door; soon, she could sense John, Monk, Yasu, Lin and Naru, who were all getting ready for bed. She nodded her head.

"I don't see why that's so important, you wake up if you have a weird dream anyway, plus the guys would scream if something went wrong," Ayako shrugged as she finished one of her charms.

"Yes, I would, but you know what Lin and Oliver are like, they wouldn't scream and by morning they would probably be dead if not," Mai replied as she turned around, Ayako stopped what she was doing and placed her hands on her hips.

"You two know what's haunting this place, don't you?" she asked, Mai and Masako looked at each other.

"It's very faint, and if I'm not mistaken then yes, we would know. However, we can't be certain until it comes out of hiding in full form," Masako answered, Ayako looked at her confusedly.

"In other words, it's bad, really bad," Mai dumbed down as she crawled into one of the beds in the room. Masako crawled into another and Ayako the last one. Mai looked at Ayako as she set the charms down on the bedside table, Mai knew they wouldn't be very effective, she didn't even know if they'd have any effect, but it was worth a shot.

"Night guys," Ayako smiled as she looked at the girls.

"Good night," Masako replied as she turned over in her bed.

"Night," Mai spoke as she turned off the light and turned over in her bed before closing her eyes and slowly drifting off into one of her usual dreamless nights.

* * *

Monk sat on his bed, chanting his usual chant over and over again, John walked around the room saying the Lord's Prayer and spilling holy water here and there. Lin and Naru sat on their beds, looking to the two with slight interest.

"You two never did this before, why now?" Naru asked. Monk stopped chanting and opened one eye.

"We've had quite a lot of bad experiences in places like this where Masako and Mai can't sense what's going on. So we say our chants and it sets up a small barrier for the night, then we try to make it to morning without any attacks," he explained, Naru and Lin nodded their heads.

"Why did you make Mai leader of SPR? You'd have been better suited for it, Monk," Naru stated as he looked at Monk, who glared sharply. Yasu exited the side bathroom in time to hear the question.

"Because Mai's a great leader," he stated with a smile. Monk just looked at the teen, who smiled at him. "Since you two left Mai started studying ghost hunting so we made her the leader, we don't regret it one bit," he added.

"But something seems different about her," Naru mused as he trailed off.

"Nothing's different," Monk spoke to quickly.

"Takigawa," John spoke in a warning voice as he looked at Monk with eyes that said it all. Monk gulped as he closed his eyes and started chanting again.

"Mai's the same old Mai," Yasu muttered as he looked at a wall. "She just closed herself up when you left and didn't believe that she loved you. Gene was dead Naru," Naru glared at Yasu. "And yet you believed she was in love with him. If she was, then I think she would have ended her life to be with him, but she stayed because she wanted to be with you. And then you rejected her and broke her heart," Yasu explained as he looked away from the wall with a slightly laugh. John and Monk had both stopped chanting and they looked at each other.

"Anyway, I think I'm gonna hit the hay," Yasu laughed nervously as he laid down on his bed. John and Monk stared at each other for a few more minutes.

"I told you that, Naru, but you didn't listen," Lin spoke softly as he also laid down. Naru stood up and started towards the door.

"Naru, we don't leave the room after Mai said to get some sleep," Monk tried to stop him leaving, but Naru didn't listen, he walked out the door and down the dark hallway, away from the others.

"I think we might have pissed him off," John stated as he looked at Monk, who sighed.

"Or upset him," Lin replied, Monk and John both looked at Lin, who was reading a book.

"Mai's gonna kill us if anything happens to him," Monk groaned as he looked at John, who nodded his head.

"Shall we go after him?" he asked, Monk sighed again.

"We're gonna have to," he muttered. Yasu turned over in his bed.

"Be careful guys. It's not gonna be safe," he stated, John and Monk glared slightly at the teen.

"We know that," Monk responded as he and John slowly stepped out of the room, closing the door behind them.

The hallway was dark, darker than what Monk would have liked it to be.

"I've changed my mind, I don't care what happens to us, Naru's on his own," he stated as he tried to walk back inside the room, but John grabbed his arm.

"Come on Monk, it can't be that bad, plus Mai really will kill us," John reminded as he began dragging Monk down the dark corridor.

"How do we know this is the way Naru even went?" he asked.

"Would you rather split up?" John asked in reply. Monk paled at the thought.

"No thanks, this hospital's creepy enough and I won't be able to bear being alone," he answered, John nodded his head as they rounded a corner.

More darkness, Monk groaned, he didn't like this, he hated the dark. Why did Naru have to be so, so, so NARU! He inwardly groaned.

"I have no problem with Naru coming back, no problem with him helping out and following Mai's orders. But I do have a problem when he starts going around a creepy hospital at night when we specifically told him not to. I mean, come on, is this guy seriously stupid?" Monk complained as he and John carried on walking around. John only rolled his eyes, he was used to Monk being like this by now, he wondered how anyone wouldn't be used it.

"You know ever since Mai took over SPR her fear seems to have rubbed off onto you," John spoke out loud, scaring Monk out of his wits.

"I am not afraid, but did you seriously forget what happened two cases ago?" he asked, John thought for a moment.

"You mean the one where Mai was put through hell and back?" he asked, Monk nodded his head.

"I'm surprised that she's still going in this business to be honest and then when she told us what happened," he answered. John frowned.

"Monk, she was literally dragged through hell and back up, she's seen everything that haunts your worst nightmares and goes beyond. From here on out, she'll know what she's doing in this business, and we're here to support her," John replied as they rounded another corner, this corridor lighter than the last.

"I know, but if Mai ever wants to quit, I won't stop her," Monk stated as they walked down the corridor.

"Neither will the rest of us," John muttered. They stopped half way down the corridor, having no luck in finding Naru. John scratched the back of his head.

"Shall we go back to our room?" Monk asked. John looked around one last time, the halls were dark, Naru had wondered off and the chances of finding him were slim to none in this light.

"Sure, let's just pray he's ok," John answered, but as they turned around a blood curdling scream reached their ears.

* * *

**Sorry it took me so long to do this guys, really I apologise for it. But I hope everyone enjoyed it and I'm sad to say I won't be able to update until Thursday or Friday now due to my NCS course throughout the week. But review this chapter and my next one will be up soon. REVIEW!**


	6. Always Had to be Different

**Day 3: 1 am, Shikaya Hospital**

Mai bolted up right in her bed; Ayako and Masako were already pulling their dressing gowns on. Mai didn't waste any time, she stood up, her feet making contact with the stone cold floor and quickly ran out of the room.

"Mai!" Ayako called after her, but the brunette had already gone. She ran down hall ways and past rooms. Her eyes darted around for any sign of a figure or the person who the scream came from.

'_God damn it, Oliver, you always have to be different,' _she hissed in her mind as she rounded a corner. She froze, her heart stopped, her eyes widened, her breath became visible.

She stood, frozen on the spot, staring into blood red curdling eyes that seemed to entrance her more than anything. She couldn't see anything but those eyes, no body, no figure, nothing, just darkness.

Slowly, her eyes moved from those cruor eyes and to the dark haired figure that was being held in the air. Naru. Mai's eyes narrowed as she readied the nine cuts, she chanted… but those eyes only seemed to get darker with each chant.

Mai stopped, realizing it had no effect on the, the, thing in front of her. But that wouldn't stop her; she needed to make it drop Naru, somehow. Where were Monk and the others when she needed them? Oh yeah, running around trying to find them. Maybe she should have waited for them.

Mai suddenly felt her life force drain slightly, but a moment later she felt fine. With the question in her mind Mai suddenly put two and two together, the eyes were draining the life from Naru.

Well, she thought it was, after all the eyes were starting to get a figure and Mai could see fingers wrapped around Naru's neck. The lights started glowing in the hallway; the figure became more apparent to Mai.

She stepped back slightly, the figure had always been there, it was just too dark for her to see. But now the lights were glowing, she could make it out clearly.

A skinny figure, boney fingers, its grip was tight and something red dripped from Naru's neck. The lights faded and soon they were encased in darkness again. But Mai's anger began to rise up and the lights shone once more. A smirk appeared on the figures thin, pale lips.

"Well, here I thought I had the strongest already in my grasp," Mai heard Naru groan slightly as balled her fists. "Looks like I was wrong," as the figure spoke, Mai spared a glance to the boy held up in the air. Only to turn back to those piercing red eyes on front of her face.

She didn't scream, she didn't move, instead she smirked. A twisted smirk that others wouldn't expect of her. In the distance footsteps were getting closer and closer.

Mai took the chance and let her anger get the best of her. The lights exploded and the glass shot straight to the figure, she paid no attention to the screams that soon surrounded her and the figure.

Her eyes turned black as she slowly picked up one of the broken shards of glass. She gripped it tightly in her hand, slicing through her skin. Her blood dripped down the glass. But it wasn't a normal red, no, it was black.

Her eyes made contact with the blood red ones as she slammed the piece of glass into its chest.

"Relinquo," Mai hissed as she glared at the figure. Naru fell to the floor with a thud. Only just slightly conscious, he managed to look at Mai in time to see her whole body glow black and envelop the world around him.

And then… darkness took over his mind.

* * *

The footsteps stopped and the darkness faded from around Mai, her eyes returned to normal and her body gave way. She collapsed, falling onto the broken shards of glass as the footsteps came to a halt.

"Mai," Ayako whispered as she rushed over to the unconscious woman, Masako followed her while the boys looked over Naru.

"You should have known not to leave him on his own," Masako stated as she stood up and walked over to Naru. She noticed the blood stains on his neck and frowned at them.

"He just walked out of the room, we spent forever trying to find him but this place is so big and Naru walks like a damn cheetah," Monk replied, trying, and failing, to lighten the mood slightly.

"What was that that Mai did?" Lin asked, the others quickly looked at him, but he wasn't paying them any attention, he was carefully gathering Naru into his arms.

"Nothing," Monk spoke a little too quickly. Lin shot him a look.

"I know that was not 'nothing'," he almost hissed. "Now tell me what it was!" John recoiled slightly at the sound of the older man's voice. Never had he heard Lin be so loud in his life.

"If we don't get these two wrapped up soon they could die from blood loss," Ayako spoke. Lin frowned, but nodded his head as he carefully took Naru back to base. Monk picked Mai up and slowly carried her back as well.

"Talk about saved by the bell," Yasu laughed sheepishly, but Ayako only slapped him over the head.

"That was a little _too _close for us to be making jokes, Yasu," Masako stated as Ayako ran to catch the others up. John, Yasu and Masako were then left in the darkness of the hallway alone.

"What do you think will happen now?" John asked.

"Is Lin doesn't forget what happened we could be faced with telling him and Naru what Mai is truly capable of now," Yasu answered.

"But in anyway, wouldn't Naru still be stronger than her?" Masako asked as she looked between the two boys, though it was hard to make them out.

"Naru would be stronger because he's able to control his. However, Mai's more powerful as to the way of we don't know her full potential yet," Yasu explained as he looked at, who he thought was, Masako.

"We should have never taken that case," John whispered as he took Masako and John's arms and began leading them down the hall towards base.

In the distance those same red eyes watched them, its pale lips smirking.

"Monk I need you to hold this to Naru's neck quickly," Ayako ordered as she rushed around the base trying to find things to use to heal Naru's neck.

"We're in a dang hospital woman, go find something from one of the other rooms!" Monk almost yelled at her, Ayako just glared at him as she quickly slipped out of the room.

Masako, John and Yasu entered and walked over to the monitors, where Lin was watching the experiences of the night. John frowned, Masako narrowed her eyes and Yasu shook his head. Lin would not let it go.

"Hey Masako," came a slightly weak voice. Masako whirled around to see Mai slowly sitting up. "Mind making some tea? Take John with you," though it sounded like a request, Masako knew it was an ordered. She nodded and walked out the room, John in tow.

Ayako re-entered with a first aid kit in her hands, she quickly got to work on Naru's neck, healing the cuts that the figure had done to him.

"Mai," said woman looked up to Yasu, who was looking out of the window. "Do you have any idea what we're dealing with yet?" he asked. Mai frowned as she looked at him; she pulled a small shard of glass from her arm and slowly moved it along her sliced flesh on her palm.

"Unfortunately, I do, and it is not very pleasant. So, Yasu, I would like you to leave today, Monk will drive you back to the city," Yasu sighed, but nodded his head. He would have had to leave for his exams either way, but leaving this early into a case, he didn't like it.

"Say the word and I'll drive you, alright man?" Monk asked as he handed Ayako and anti-infectant, Yasu just nodded his head.

Lin patiently listened to the conversations going on about base until Masako and John came back. He calmly accepted the tea and waited for the right moment to speak.

"I'm going to get cleaned up," Mai spoke after a long moment of silence in the base. There was only Masako and John who nodded their heads, Yasu had picked up and book and Ayako and Monk were too busy tending to Naru.

"Let me walk you back, Mai," Lin offered, Mai looked at him and smiled slightly as she rose to her feet and slowly followed the older man out of the room.

They walked in silence through the halls until Lin decided to speak.

"What did you do to the figure?" he asked, Mai didn't remove her gaze from the hall in front of her.

"I don't know what you mean, Lin-san. Quite frankly, all I did was use the nine cuts," she answered; Lin didn't look at her, but remained a cool composure.

"After that, Mai, and do not treat me like I am an idiot," he spoke with such calmness it almost gave Mai shivers.

"I don't think that is any of your concern, Lin-san. There are things in this world that are better left unknown, and those things can either make or break your entire life. Finding out now, well, that just might be the death of you. And if I had to tell you, then I might have to kill you, and none of us would want that, would we?" and with that, Mai entered her room, leaving a slightly shocked and confused Lin stood in the hallway.

* * *

**Yeah, so sorry this hasn't been updated, I had NCS and then after that I was so tired! And then I had a friend's birthday and just stuff after that. But now I'm like two months away from my A Level exams and have two-four weeks to finish coursework so this story will be updated when I can update it. Sorry if that's not often but please understand. Now please review and I'll see you soon, maybe, I don't know. REVIEW!**


	7. Remembering

**Day 3: Morning, Shikaya Hospital**

By the time morning actually came around, none of the SPR gang had gone back to sleep. Naru's neck was healing nicely, and the rest were sitting in base with him, while Lin looked over the screen. He replayed the incident earlier that morning, trying to figure out, what Mai could actually do.

He looked at the screen, watching every movement closely and then he noticed something he hadn't before. He frowned, and replayed the scenes over again, this time, frame by frame.

He paused on one part, and to his shock, a shadow was present. Though it didn't look harmful, he was worried about why it was hanging onto Mai. For it stood behind her, holding the back of her hands and, as Lin moved the frame again, he figured that it was indeed this shadowy figure controlling her movements.

'_That…. It's impossible, is Mai even aware of this?' _Lin asked himself as he looked at the screen, laughter came from behind him and he turned around, looking at SPR with slightly worried eyes. _'Do they even know? And…. What if Mai isn't….' _Lin trailed off in his thoughts, ignoring the people around him. He had to find out what was wrong with Mai.

Masako looked up from the tea cup she was staring at, her eyes landed on Monk.

"What Mai did last night, it was…. Safe for her, wasn't it?" she asked, of course she worried about her friend, but they all did. Monk frowned.

"I don't know, Masako, we'll have to keep an eye on her for now," he answered. Ayako looked up, about to say something when Yasu walked in.

"Monk, I'm ready to leave," the university student stated. He looked around the room and saw the worried looks on everyone's face. Looking at the spare couch he saw Naru asleep, and Lin was in his own world.

"Sure thing, man, let's go," Monk nodded as he grabbed his keys. "Guys, make sure Mai's ok," he ordered in a whisper as he and Yasu walked out of the room. John sighed; he leaned back and ran a hand through his blonde locks.

"Mai's in her room, let's search the hospital and try some more exorcisms," he suggested, the team knew better than to disturb Mai when she was alone. Mainly because she could rip them limb from limb if they came in at the wrong moment.

"Lin," Lin broke out of his thoughts, looking up at the team who was stood on their feet. "Keep an eye on the screens, if anything appears just yell through the microphone here. The cameras have built in speakers that all operate from this mic, if one of us in trouble, all of us will be able to hear you," John pointed out as he placed the mic in front of Lin, who nodded once.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"Just around the hospital, we're going to try more exorcists to either get rid of this thing or at least draw it out," Ayako answered.

"Run through the cameras and try to get us a precise location of the hospital," Masako ordered, Lin looked at her. Precise location for what?

"It's like a hot spot, where the thing vanishes and appears, then let us all know and we'll group in that room. Naru should wake up soon, if not, throw a cup of water on him," Ayako explained further for Lin to understand, again the older man nodded. He turned around in his chair as Ayako, John and Masako left the room, leaving him with a sleeping Naru and a load of camera footage to go through.

Mai paced around in the room she shared with Ayako and Masako. Running her hands through her brunette locks she looked at the entrance to the room, she had shut the door and drawn the curtains so no one could look in.

* * *

"Stop pacing, Mai," a croaked voice filled the air. Mai stopped. Now, to any normal person, the voice would have scared them, made them freeze in their tracks and made them run away. But Mai simply stopped and looked up.

The darkest of eyes looked at her, they weren't a normal dark, these were pitch black and could pierce your very soul. Though they didn't scare Mai, how could they? They were the eyes she saw every morning when she woke up and every night before she went to sleep. They in no way comforted her, but they in no way intimidated or frightened her.

"They're getting too close," the voice became louder. Mai looked away from the eyes.

"It doesn't matter," she replied.

"It does!" the voice screeched, Mai closed her eyes, attempting to keep calm, only one could afford to lose their temper.

"Why does it? They will never find out, my friends will never-,"

"You have no friends, Mai. Those people are with you because they are scared of what you are, and what you will do if they leave," Mai turned around, fists clenched and swung at the eyes, but they vanished, and appeared behind her a moment later.

"Silly, silly, Mai, I am a part of you now and by hurting me, you are only hurting yourself."

"You're only a part of me because it was the only way I could escape."

"You let me in, you could have easily found your way out by yourself, you wanted to become stronger, to have the courage to harm the people who deserve it."

"None of them deserved it."

"The only reason I am still a part of you is because you allow it."

"That's a lie."

"Is it, Mai? Is it really, don't you remember what happened? How we joined as one and came to be? How you ended up down there?"

Mai looked at the eyes; her body began trembling as she remembered what had happened.

_**(A/N Bloody ahead, read at your own risk)**_

"_Mai out of the way now!" Monk's voice rang throughout the burning kitchen as she stared at the black dog before her._

"_Where is it?!" Ayako asked over to roaring flames. Mai wanted to scream, her mind told her to, yet her mouth was glued shut. When she opened it, nothing came out._

_The dog came closer, the sound of breaking glass rung throughout the air._

"_Mai we have to leave!" Masako called to her, but Mai couldn't move._

_Monk grabbed Masako, ushered her over to John and John took her out. Monk looked through the flames and spotted Mai. He rushed over, but as he tried to grab her arm, the dog pounced, tackling Mai to the ground and sunk its teeth into her neck._

_Mai finally found her voice; she screamed a high pitch as part of her flesh was ripped from her neck. Blood poured out, leaking from her neck to the floor. Mai moved her hand and covered the wound, but it didn't help. _

_She gasped for air as claws we sunk into her chest and dragged down, causing more blood to escape her body. Mai coughed, bringing more bloody up. Her lungs had been punctured from the claws and her heart was leaking blood._

_A final bite to her stomach caused her to gasp in pain, her voice had left her, she couldn't scream. The animal shook its head; Mai watched it as the life faded from her eyes. Blood splattered on her face from the intestines in the animal's mouth. The last thing she heard was Monk's voice, and then everything was black._

_Mai awoke in a place lit by fire, her skin burned and ached, hooks were pierced through her shoulders and sides, holding her in place. She had never been in so much pain._

"_Monk!" she screamed, but only a snicker was heard._

"_Pathetic little human, don't you realise?" Mai looked up, evil red eyes looked at her, and suddenly, she felt scared. "You're dead," and then it all sunk in. Mai had been ripped limb from limb by something, something black, something animal like and she didn't know why._

"_And now, it's our turn to torture the infamous Taniyama Mai, who has caused all of our kind so much pain," Mai's skin suddenly burned, she screamed in pain, hating every moment of it. Knives trailed along her skin, but no blood came out, she was dead. This was torture._

_Gritting her teeth, Mai bared the pain and gritted her teeth. It felt an eternity before they stopped. She felt like she was on the brink of death, but she was already dead. The eyes snickered as they walked away to torture someone else, Mai breathed heavily as she looked up. Black, hollow less eyes looked at her they walked over to her._

"_You want out of this?" the eyes asked, Mai looked up as she felt her hands glowing white, she glared at the figure before feeling a sharp pain in her stomach. Her hands stopped glowing and the eyes laughed at her._

"_Now, now, Taniyama, I'm trying to help you. Now, do you want out?" Mai could only nod once at the searing pain. "Good, but you have to let me in," not giving it a first thought or even really listening Mai nodded her head. And with that the deal was made, the two began to glow black and merge as one._

_Mai ripped the hooks out of her as she stood to her feet. She walked through the flames of hell and disappeared out of it._

_**(A/N No more blood)**_

Mai felt a tear slide down her face but paid no attention and looked at the eyes.

"That has nothing to do with this, I have to figure this out," she stated as she turned away from the eyes, only for them to appear in front of her again.

"Then take a trip, through your mind and ask that god forsaken spirit guide of yours," the eyes hissed.

"I can't see Gene anymore, he hasn't been in my dream since we merged," Mai replied.

"That's because I've locked him away in the darkest part of your mind," the eyes stated as they faded away. Mai looked at the eyes as they faded; her mind became blank as she collapsed to her knees, not taking into account the red eyes watching her.

"Mai," Masako asked as she knocked on the door and walked in. The red eyes looked at her before disappearing. "Mai!" Masako yelled slightly as she rushed to the girl's side.

"What is it?" Mai asked as she lifted herself to her feet, swaying slightly.

"Naru's woken up," Masako answered.

"Good, let's go to base, I'm gonna need to talk to everyone. Has Yasu left?"

"Yes."

"Good, I don't need him here for this," Mai stated as she looked at Masako, who gave her a confused look.

"Masako I want all of you to continue with exorcists around the hospital, try and lure this thing out, make it mad if you have to, just get it out in the open," Mai ordered.

"And what are you going to do?" Masako asked.

"I'm gonna free Gene and then find out what this thing is," Mai answered. Masako looked in shock, free Gene? But Gene had gone, hadn't he? "And Masako, this will not end pretty, tell everyone that from now on you are to follow Oliver's orders until I come back into base, understand me?" Masako nodded her head as she slowly walked out of the room.

Mai grabbed a small black bag and took out the things she needed, candles and some white powder.

"Freeing him will not end well for us, Mai," the eyes were back.

"I don't care, whether you and I end up separated or still together," Mai replied.

"If we end up separated then I will have my form back and I will be my own person once again Mai."

"So you've absorbed enough life from me, finally?" Mai asked, the eyes looked at her, they seemed unamused.

"Whether we are separated or not, you have enough life of your own and after this, I want you out of my body. You may be a demon, or may have been if you come back as a living person, but you have a good heart, and I trust you. But for the rest of this mission I need your help to defeat whatever this is and to free Gene in order to give him what little freedom he had as being my spirit guide," the eyes suddenly disappeared as Mai finished making a circle with the powder and lit the candles.

Sitting in the circle, Mai began chanting silently to herself until she felt reality slipping from her grip. Opening her eyes, Mai was surrounded by darkness, a darkness she was all too familiar with.

It was the darkness that surrounded her own mind.

* * *

**Yeah, so well, erm, sorry I haven't updated, but I swear I'll try my hardest to update again soon, was nice writing this chapter, hope everyone enjoyed it. Also, I'm sorry if I made anyone feel sick with the bloody parts, the warning's there for a reason, so until next time just review please! REVIEW!**


	8. Gene, Demons

**Day 3: Afternoon, Shikaya Hospital**

As Mai turned on her heel she was met with nothing other than the darkness that haunts her mind. She shuddered slightly at the feeling of it. It was the only place she could be afraid, it was the only place she could truly be herself.

"Now Mai, there's no reason to shudder like that," Mai turned back around, she was met with those hollow black eyes. But this time it was different, this time the eyes were attached to a face and that face was attached to a body.

Mai looked at the eyes, then the face they were on, and then the body. If she hadn't known any better, Mai would have thought it was a demonic mirror. The eyes had duplicated an exact body like Mai's, an exact face, the exact features, everything.

"Mai, are you ready?" though Mai knew that no matter what the eyes had taken form of, it was only in her mind and it was only because Mai allowed it to happen. Without hesitation, Mai nodded her head and slowly they began travelling through the darkness to find where Gene was trapped.

As Mai walked along, she saw many of her different personalities, but they were all surrounded by a black fog. This was the reason Mai showed no emotion, for the thing that possessed her in hell had hidden all of her emotions.

It had trapped them all within her body so she had no doubts, no regrets, no fear, no love, she was only cold. Mai knew herself that she was barely human with this demon inside of her, hiding away everything she ever was.

"Once Gene is freed I shall become weaker. You will only have a certain amount of time to defeat this demon before I leave your body," Mai looked at the demon walking next to her. Having had it take the form of herself, Mai knew that she never would truly be rid of it, there would always be a demon within Mai but-

"I prefer it without you," Mai spoke honest words. Even though in her mind, the demon had slight control, which Mai knew would lead her to speak her mind and never regret it.

"So you enjoy being able to feel things?" the demon asked.

"I prefer being able to show emotion and help my friends," Mai answered.

"And you don't do that enough when I'm here?"

"I help, but I do not feel."

"If I go, your feelings for that narcissist will come back," the demon stated.

"Then so be it, I can live with that, but I cannot live being unable to feel my entire life. My emotions were locked away in darkness so that I would have more energy to give you. You have collected all you need, once this is over, I want you out," Mai stated, her voice wasn't rising, but it was becoming full of spite.

The demon fell silent after that, and they walked in silence.

As they continued, the darkness seemed to get thicker and darker. It became eerie, a pit of eternal darkness, which was all Mai could see. She knew she feared things, but she never imagined them to be anything like this.

"You spirit guide is hidden within this darkness. It's not far, follow me," the demon spoke and started to lead the way. Mai walked closely behind the duplicate of herself and soon they were in the pit of darkness.

Looking around, Mai could see that the only thing leading the way was a single lit candle, floating in the air. Slowly it began to move, and the girls quickly followed after it.

Mai stopped for a moment, hearing the cries of someone in pain, she felt a ripping sensation in her heart and then someone grabbed her hand.

"Your fears live here, none of them are real; we have to keep moving," the demon spoke as it pulled Mai along into the darkness, never releasing her hand.

The two continued walking until they came to a certain door. It was red with a single black rose painted in the middle. The door knocker was shaped as a skull and the handle made of bone.

Mai looked at the door and slowly reached for the handle. The door opened and the smell of blood filled the air. Mai and the demon stepped in, on the floor were the bodies of SPR all cut up, bloody, degutted and mutilated.

Mai ignored them; she knew this was her greatest fear. She feared losing her family on a case that would be too hard for them. But what seemed to confuse her slightly was the fact that Naru and Lin were also added in with the mess of bodies on the floor.

She turned her head away, unable to look at it anymore. A faint clanking sound was heard from the wall. Mai looked over and saw Gene chained to it, his eyes were stricken with fear.

Slowly, Mai walked over, her feet making splashing sounds in the blood as she did so. Gene looked away from the bodies to Mai, he became shocked.

"Mai," he whispered, Mai said nothing as she unchained his hands. He looked at her, rubbing his wrists before hugging her gently. Mai stood still, she didn't return the hug, she didn't decline it, she just waited for it to end.

"Let's go before the darkness starts to lift," the demon spoke. Gene looked over to the it, his eyes became wide as he pushed Mai behind him.

"You're the one who chained me up," he growled.

"I'm also the one who brought Mai to save you, now let's leave," the demon answered. Gene tried to object, but Mai's voice cut him off.

"Let's go, Gene," she spoke. Gene looked at Mai with doubt but slowly followed the out.

The trip back to the centre of the mind was much quicker than what Mai had expected it to be. She could see the darkness starting to lift and black hollow eyes that had once taken on a form of Mai soon turned into the eyes they once were.

Gene looked around, he didn't like Mai's mind like this. Granted he was confused and he wanted to ask what the hell was going on, but he decided against it.

"Gene, we don't have much time now, I need to know what this thing is that's haunting the Hospital and how to get rid of it," Mai stated, Gene turned his head to her.

"I've been locked away in here since the start of the case, but from what little emotion you've felt and how strong your powers were, I would have to say a demon, a strong one at that. It'll take more than you, Masako, Monk, Ayako and John to get rid of it," he answered as the eyes floated around him.

"That's why we have Oliver," Mai replied as she looked towards a small light.

"Time to leave your mind, Mai, be careful, and hurry," the eyes whispered as they stood next to Gene, who still had questions to ask.

Mai calmly walked towards the light and once she was through it she saw the hospital room she was in. Blinking a few times Mai stood to her feet and looked around her room.

"Guess I have to find the others," she whispered leaving the room quickly. For the first time in a while Mai broke off into a run towards the SPR base. She figured they would more than likely be there.

* * *

"Mai wants you to take charge," Masako stated as she looked at Naru, who gave her a confused look. Ayako, John and Monk, who had previously returned, turned their attention to Masako and Naru; Lin never looked up from the screens.

"I thought Mai had everything under control?" Naru asked as he placed his hands together and rested his chin on them, a smirk appearing on his face.

"I will smack that god forsaken smirk off of your face if you do not take this seriously, Oliver," Masako glared, John coughed slightly, trying to hide his humour. Monk and Ayako smirked, while Lin briefly turned his attention away from the computer.

"Mai has other things to worry about right now, that's the only reason she's giving leadership to you, the minute she comes back we'll listen to her again," Masako explained. Naru looked at her, his smirk disappeared but he sighed.

"Very well, since exorcisms haven't been working we need another way to attack this thing. Does anyone have a chant that is more likely to work on something more powerful than a ghost?" Naru asked, not taking into account that the thing haunting the hospital may not be a ghost at all.

"We all do, Mai taught us a stronger exorcism, but it only works in certain ways," Monk answered.

"Lin, which room has the lowest temperature in it?" Naru asked.

"A patient room, though there seems to be nothing there," Lin answered, the team walked over and stood behind Lin, examining the room.

"Let's check it out," Naru ordered, "Lin, come with us, we may need your shiki," he added, Lin nodded his head as they all walked out of the room.

"I don't like this," Masako breathed as they walked into the room. Never before had they been in a room so cold.

"It's a bad thing that we can see our breath, right?" Monk asked, Ayako rolled her eyes, she would have hit him, but she held her arms crossed over her chest for warmth.

Naru and Lin looked around the room, trying to find any reason why it was as cold as it was.

Lin pressed his hands along the wall until he felt them sink in slightly. He pushed the wall and a small doorway opened a crack.

"This is why," Lin spoke, the gang turned to look at the wall; sure enough Lin had found the hidden door.

Masako walked with John as Lin started to open it.

"Lin, are you sure that's such a good idea? We don't know what's down there," John stated, Lin paid no attention as he pulled the door open.

Blazing red eyes stared back at the team as they looked into the darkness before shooting out of the wall. Naru gasped as boney fingers wrapped around his neck, lifting him into the air.

He lost his breath as something was plunged into his stomach, causing his eyes to widen in pain.

"Naru!" Monk called as he readied his hands to begin chanting. But the eyes turned to every one of them, freezing them all in their places.

Their bodies froze, unable to move, fear appeared in all of their eyes as the thing smiles at them, blood pouring from its mouth as it did so. Its eyes turned back to Naru and it spoke, in a horse, low, demonic voice.

"No… more… interruptions," the figure and Naru then both disappeared. The team stood in shock at the place where Naru and the demon had just been.

* * *

Mai rushed into base, she huffed as she rested her hands on the doorway before looking up. No one, not even Lin was there. She turned around, but the monitors caught her eye before she could run to find them.

She rushed over in time to see the demon disappear with Naru in its grasp. Mai's heart seemed to stop as she watched it. Quickly, she turned on her heel and ran out of the room towards where her team was; only one thought ran through her head as she rushed towards them.

'_For fucks sake, Naru.'_

* * *

**So, I updated quickly this time, what did everyone think? Was it good was it bad? Also, did anyone figure out where I got the ideas for hooks in hell from in the last chapter? If so have some cookies *hands out cookies* **

**So, question is, does anyone want a sequel to this story, since this had basically one way it can end and I think you'll all ask for a sequel when it comes to it. Also, I'll probably be uploading another Ghost Hunt story later since I came up with a pretty cool idea, keep an eye out for it and until then just review. See ya soon. REVIEW!**


	9. Are You Angry?

Mai ran through the halls of the hospital and soon enough entered the room where SPR were. Looking up, she saw they were still glued to the spot, frozen. She clapped her hands loudly.

Monk was the first to snap out of it.

"Mai, did you see that?" he asked, Mai nodded her head. Masako, though still in a daze, managed to find her voice.

"What do we do?" she asked, her voice was quiet. Mai looked over at her and then the open door, the only thing they could do was go in there.

"We find Oliver," Mai answered, she felt her grip with the demon inside her beginning to face.

"_Mai, we must hurry, our bond is becoming weaker,"_ a voice in Mai's mind spoke; she nodded once and walked over to the centre of everyone.

"Guys! Listen up," John and Ayako immediately snapped out of it while Lin was still staring at the spot where Naru had been and, un-doubtedly, cursing himself for not saving it.

"Lin!" Mai clapped her hands in Lin's face. "Standing there staring at the spot it not going to bring Oliver back, now listen," she ordered. Lin nodded his head and walked to stand next to Monk. "Monk, you and John will be the first to start off this exorcism, Ayako, you and Masako will keep this demon at bay with your warding magic-,"

"But-,"

"Basic or not Masako it needs to be done," Mai quickly added, Masako nodded her head as she pursed her lips in a thin line. "Lin, use your shiki to defend any one if they need it, they won't hold it back for long but the exorcism shouldn't take too long," Mai explain, Lin nodded his head.

"And you?" Monk asked.

"I'm gonna get Oliver, once I have him, Lin you will bring him up here back to safety while we finish the job, understood?" everyone nodded their heads at Mai's orders. They all turned towards the small doorway.

Masako gulped and gripped John's hand, Ayako frowned and took a few deep breaths, Monk pulled a torch out and with that SPR ventured into the unknown.

"I don't remember this being on any of the blueprints," Masako whispered as they walked further down a steep slope.

"Monk, just shine your light on the floor a moment," John ordered, Monk did as he was told and John's suspicions were confirmed.

"This wasn't man made, the only way this could have been made was by being dug," he explained.

"That because of all the dirt and rocks?" Mai asked as she kicked one of them into the darkness.

"Yeah, also because there's no lights or anything that looks like a concrete wall. The only I would say that's concrete is further above us and that would be one of the hospitals floors. But now I think if we keep going this far soon enough we won't even be under the hospital anymore," John answered, Mai nodded her head as they carried on walking down the path.

"Can't we just like throw a rock and see how further we have to go?" Ayako asked, Monk glared at her.

"Oh sure, would you like to do that? Especially since we don't what is in this bloody place, if you piss anything off by hitting it I will kill you," he hissed in reply, Ayako just rolled her eyes.

"If we run into a Gollum like thing, fuck Oliver, I'm leaving," Mai stated out of blue, Masako slapped her arm.

"Hate to say it but I'm with Mai," Monk agreed as they walked further into the darkness.

"How far does this thing go?" Ayako whispered as Monk's flashlight began to flash.

"Please tell me the batteries aren't running out," John pleaded as they continued.

"New batteries," Monk replied.

"Oh boy," Masako whispered.

They walked along silently, Mai began chanting an incantation as they walked, warding off anything that would try to attack them.

Monk stopped when his foot mad a clanking sound with something below him. He moved his flashlight to look at when he had stood on.

"We're on concrete?" he asked as he tapped the floor with his foot a couple of times.

"It's not impossible," John muttered, "from what I can guess we're about thirty to forty feet below the surface. It really isn't that surprising," he added. Monk shined his light back in front of them to be met with a large steel door with red hand prints on it.

"What do you think, paint or blood?" Ayako asked, laughing nervously.

"Hasn't this job always taught us to expect the worse?" Masako asked as she watched Mai walk over to the door.

"Mai, careful," Lin spoke as he and the others started to walk behind her. Mai's hand rested on the door handle as she slowly pulled it open. Lin grabbed her shoulder and dragged her out of the way as something was thrown towards the door. A body.

The gang looked back into the room and saw the spirits of people who had died within the hospitals walls.

"John, explain?" Mai asked, John was silent for a moment as Monk and Ayako started chanting.

"The Hospital must be the only way in and out of this area, so the souls that were killed by this thing must have been gathered here," he answered, Mai nodded her head as everyone chanted, getting ready to send the ghosts to eternal rest.

"You won't save him," were the final words the team heard as the ghosts disappeared.

"What now?" Ayako asked, Mai and the others scanned the room with Monk's flashlight.

"This can't be a dead end room," Masako whispered as Monk's eye caught something in the corner of the room. A smaller door, probably leading somewhere else.

"We go through there," Mai stated as she looked where Monk was shining the lights.

"There, are you sure?" Ayako asked, gulping slightly as the team walked over. Mai gripped the handle and pushed the door open.

"If we want to find Oliver, we have no choice," she answered, taking Monk's flashlight Mai proceeded to look into the smaller hallway. "There's only enough room for one," she stated.

"Let me go," Monk stepped forwards, holding his hand out for the flashlight, but Mai shook her head.

"You've got too much of a big build," Mai turned to Masako, who looked at her pleadingly, then John who shook his head. "I'll go," she added when she saw none of the smaller two were willing to do it.

"I can send my shiki in after you," Lin spoke, Mai simply nodded once before starting to crawl into the doorway.

"Be careful, Mai," Ayako whispered. Mai turned her head around, barely being able to see over her shoulder as the gang crouched down and watched her crawl through.

Mai gasped as she pulled herself through the tight crawl space, trying her hardest not to lose her breath of panic whenever she was stuck.

"Jheeze, how long is this tunnel?" Mai asked as she crawled forward a little more. Her hands didn't find ground in front of her and soon, Mai found herself falling.

A scream reached SPR's ears as they looked into the crawl space.

"Mai!" Monk called.

"Mai are you ok?!" Ayako called after, Lin's shiki returned to him a few moments later.

"Further into the space there's no floor, only a drop, she must have fallen down it," he stated, the teams turned and exchanged a look of worry.

"Ugh, stupid bloody floors," Mai groaned as she sat up. Feeling blood trickle down her face she made an assumption she must have fallen onto concrete floor. However, after accidentally moving a part of the floor with her hands she picked it up, thin, boney and from what she could tell, white.

Instantly Mai dropped it and shot to her feet, what she had found was a bone. Her feet cracked against rotting bones and new bones, she gulped and looked around, another door.

She looked up, she couldn't tell where she had fallen from, and looking behind her she saw another door. Walking over she decided to investigate that one first. There were stairs leading upwards, so taking a chance, Mai called out to the SPR team.

"Hey! Monk! Ayako! Masako! John! Lin! Anyone hear me?!" but when she got no reply she sighed and turned around, the black eyes she was used to appeared next to her.

"Mai, he's in there, you can sense it can't you?" they asked, Mai nodded her head.

"The demon attacking him is slowly becoming stronger because of the power he possesses," she answered, the eyes floated in silence as they watched Mai walked closer towards the door.

Her hand slowly reached out, shaking and she gripped the handle, pulling it down with a force a flinging it open.

Naru lie on the floor in the middle, his body motionless and blood pooled around him. The red eyed demon floated above him, eyes full of anger and hate, blood pouring from its fanged mouth.

Mai knew then that she would need all the help she could get to beat this one.

* * *

**So shorter chapter but leaving you all on a cliffy slightly here, hope everyone enjoyed it, please review and I might update tomorrow since I have day off or I might keep you in suspense. Till next time, REVIEW!**


	10. This Is It

Those piercing red eyes glued Mai to the spot, they scared her, even if she was fused with a demon she would have been scared. She felt the demon inside of her freeze up as well, it was also scared.

"Mai, we can't fight this thing alone, it's too dangerous," the black eyes came back to Mai's side, trying to talk her out of it.

"I don't care, Oliver's in trouble and the others can't get here yet," she spoke back. Closing her eyes, Mai pushed the door shut behind her, and when she opened them, those red eyes were staring into her brown ones.

Slowly the figure began to take a more solid appearance; its hand reached into the air and came down on Mai, flinging her across the room. Mai screamed as she hit the wall, groaning as she fell to the ground.

* * *

SPR looked up, Mai's scream had reached their ears and now they were worried.

"We have to do something," Ayako spoke up.

"We can't go through there," John stated as he grabbed Ayako's hand, trying to stop her.

"We don't need to," the team turned to Lin. "There's a door here, look at the wall," he explained. SPR ran to him and looked at the wall, indeed there was a door shaped appearance to it.

Monk placed his hand on it and slowly pushed it in, a small clicking noise came and the door flew open the other way. John pulled Masako out of the way, quickly enough to she avoided getting hit with by it.

"We're going down," Monk ordered, it was the only thing they could do. No one disagreed with him; they all silently followed him into the darkness.

* * *

"You aren't going to leave this place, I won't let you," Mai spoke as her eyes began to glow a black colour, her hands became surrounded by the same darkness as she flung it towards the demon, who, in turn, dodged it.

Mai growled, she was pissed, no one attacked her and no one flung her into a god damned wall!

"I'm surprised at you, _little girl_," the voice spat, Mai glared at being called a 'little girl'. "Here I thought you were here to save you friend, but you haven't even checked to see if he is still breathing," Mai looked from the eyes to Naru's lifeless body. No movement since she had gotten into the room.

Quickly, Mai ran over to his body, ignoring the eyes as they watched her.

"Mai, you're not thinking right!" the eyes appeared next to her again. "If you touch him with the darkness he'll become consumed by it, fight this demon first and then check on him."

Mai's hands hovered above Naru's body as she tried her hardest to think of what to do. Her bond was weakening and this demon was tough, her friends couldn't get there and Naru would be dead by the end of it.

"Mai!" the voice yelled, Mai's eyes snapped wide open as she stood back to her feet. A sharp pain in her back told her she had just been hit by something.

She turned on her heel and flung the darkness at the demon, surrounding him in it. The demon fought and fought as it screamed in pain. Mai began chanting as she tried her hardest to concentrate, but all she could think of was Naru.

"Stupid love, go away!" Mai heard the voice yell in her mind. "Mai," Mai looked to her left, the eyes were back. "Look, you're not concentrating enough, your feelings for this guy are returning and they're taking over you mind, push them away," they ordered.

"Don't you think I'm trying?!" Mai almost screamed. A load roar came; the darkness surrounding the demon flew to each corner of the room then returned to Mai's hands.

"Shouldn't have done that," the demon hissed as it charged at Mai, claws pointing to her stomach.

Mai held her hands out, ready to create a barrier, but the darkness felt her hands, disappearing back into her body.

"What?" and then, there was nothing but pain, pain in every inch of her body. Mai gasped, blood spluttered out of her mouth as the demon removed it claws.

It smirked at her, licking the blood from its fingers then threw her into another wall. Mai glared as she stood back to her feet, she tried to create the darkness again, but the only thing that came into her mind was SPR and Naru and Lin.

"Mai, it's too late," a voice whispered inside her head, it was getting weaker and weaker with each word.

"It can't be," Mai whispered back as she held a hand over her stomach. She looked at the demon that stood there. If it charged once more, then Mai was done for and Naru would die.

"You can't save him," the demon laughed as he charged at Mai again. Mai closed her eyes, giving in and waiting for the attack to hit her.

But a loud whistling sound caught her ears, the demon hunched over in pain as white ghosts flew around it.

"Mai!" Mai looked up, Monk and the others ran to her. Lin rushed to Naru's side on the floor, ignoring the blood that would stain his trousers.

"What to do we do?" Monk asked, Mai fell to her knees.

"It's gone, the bond's gone, I can't do anything," she answered, tears escaped Mai's eyes as she looked over at Naru and Lin. Lin's face became increasingly worried as he began CPR on his best friend.

"Mai, what do you mean the bond's gone?" Ayako asked as she knelt down next to her. Mai cried harder.

"I let Gene out from where he was trapped and it released everything else, the bond I had with the demon's gone, I can't beat this thing," Ayako looked at the girl, she was a scared child, like she had been before.

"Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name," John began chanting as he spread holy water about the place. Lin's shiki returned to him as the demon fought them off.

Monk and Lin began their chants as they tried to get rid of the demon, but all they heard was a maniacal laugh. And then pain emitted throughout parts of their body, they had all been struck by the demon.

"No!" Mai yelled as she stood back to her feet, the darkness in cased her hands once more as she glared at the demon.

"I won't let you hurt my friends," she growled, the darkness soon enveloped her body and started shooting off into different places of the room. The demon attacked her, Mai bled, but she didn't fall down, she didn't flinch.

The darkness soon surrounded the room, surrounded Mai's friends, including Lin and Naru. Monk looked at everyone else and nodded his head. They all stood to their feet at the same time, Lin joining them.

"I will never, ever let demon scum like you; walk on this earth, ever! You're nothing, you're just a spirit that's turned evil and for that, we will send you back where you came from!" Mai called, the darkness started surrounding the demon who tried to fight it off.

It clawed and scratched at the darkness, trying to part it and escape from it, but nothing helped. The demon was surrounded and soon, charged at Mai. The SPR team watched in horror as Mai didn't try to defend herself.

Instead, she held her hand out and gripped the demon by the throat, throwing it back into the wall. The darkness acted as hands and held it there in place. Mai slowly opened her mouth and the words she spoke, were ones Lin had never heard before.

"I cast you out, unclean spirit, along with every Satanic power of the enemy, every spectre from hell, and all your fell companions; in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ," Mai had started off an exorcism she knew would be strong enough to weaken the demon and then drive it away finally.

"Begone and stay far from this creature of God. For it is He who commands you, He who flung you headlong from the heights of heaven into the depths of hell," Monk continued, allowing his body to be drained of some of his energy in order to help Mai with the final blow.

"It is He who commands you, He who once stilled the sea and the wind and the storm. Hearken, therefore, and tremble in fear, Satan, you enemy of the faith, you foe of the human race, you begetter of death, you robber of life, you corrupter of justice, you root of all evil and vice; seducer of men, betrayer of the nations, instigator of envy, font of avarice, fomentor of discord, author of pain and sorrow," Masako glared at the demon as she spoke the words, her energy had barely left her body, but she knew Mai had taken some.

"Why, then, do you stand and resist, knowing as you must that Christ the Lord brings your plans to nothing? Fear Him, who in Isaac was offered in sacrifice, in Joseph sold into bondage, slain as the paschal lamb, crucified as man, yet triumphed over the powers of hell," Ayako spoke up, her voice trembled as she spoke the words, not liking what would happen next. She had seen Mai do this once before and the end result was not pretty.

"Begone, then, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Give place to the Holy Spirit by this sign of the holy cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever, ahem," John finished the exorcism, his energy also being drained, Lin felt a slight pain within his chest where Mai had taken some from him also.

The demon had been weakened; it stopped struggling in the darkness that held it. The darkness surrounding SPR suddenly vanished and Mai walked closer and closer to the demon.

Her eyes had turned black and her body was devoured by the darkness, all that could have been seen were her hands, which reached out and wrapped themselves around the demons next.

The darkness then surrounded the both of them. Mai hissed as the darkness went from her to the demon and the demon soon began to vanish, disappearing.

It was pain, she had to admit, but it was worth it if it got rid of this demon. Mai screamed, her insides felt like they were being ripped out of her and her heart began beating fast, trying to keep up with her body, but it couldn't.

SPR watched in shock as the darkness began to fade, the demon had gone, Mai stood strong and tall, or so they thought. She suddenly collapsed onto the floor, Monk and the others ran to her side.

Ayako held her in her arms and felt for a pulse, it wasn't there. She began performing CPR but that was no help.

"Lin, get Naru, we have to go now!" Monk ordered, his voice was frantic and he tried his hardest to calm down. John reached for his cell phone and rang the doctor to come to the hospital to help them.

Lin picked Naru up in his arms, while Monk took Mai. The ground began to shake as the rest of SPR stood to their feet.

"What's happening?" Masako asked.

"Everything's coming down," John answered. "We need to go now!" he added, SPR nodded as they began running out of the pit, Monk and Lin going first with the unconscious Naru and Mai.

"Why's it coming down?" Ayako asked, John looked behind them at the collapsing room.

"I guess it was made to the demon's standards, getting rid of the demon meant getting rid of any evidence in the hospital," he answered.

The team ran back to the original room as fast as they could. Lin and Monk made it out; they set Naru and Mai on the floor and quickly pulled Masako and Ayako out, Monk's hand reached for John just as the ceiling began to collapse on him.

Monk pulled him out of the room, but his leg remained caught under the dirt. John hissed, feeling his foot twist and feeling a pop. Ayako and Masako began digging in the dirt to get his foot out.

Monk pulled him back, looking at his foot, it was covered in dirt and bent in a position that no foot should ever go in. But John sighed nevertheless, he was glad they were all out of there.

Ayako and Masako laid on the floor, trying to regain their breath, Lin began feeling Naru's neck for a pulse, it was there, but faint, they needed help now. As Lin was about to speak the wall caught his eye.

"Look," he whispered, everyone turned to the wall, there was no longer a door, no longer a passed, it was just a wall.

"How?" Ayako asked, but no one knew.

Footsteps were heard along the corridor and soon a group of doctors rushed into the room. Three of them took Naru and three took Mai, a nurse walked in behind them and offered assistance to the others.

Monk helped John to his feet and slowly they walked away from the room. Leaving the experience with the demon behind them. Each one hoping to forget it once and for all.

* * *

***hides from people***

**Ayako: Did you just?**

**Naru: You did not just….**

**Monk: I can't believe you just….**

**Masako: How could you just…?**

**John: Why did you just…?**

**Cast: WHY?!**

**I needed to put something in about Mai, anyway, hope everyone liked it; please do not kill me for anything in this chapter for I will probably scream because they're around to kill me.**

**Naru: If you do not review this story I will kill every single one of you!**

**Lin: Calm down, Naru**

**Naru: NO! SHE JUST-**

***slaps Naru's mouth* NO SPOILERS! Anyway, hope everyone enjoyed it, please review and I shall see you soon.**

**Cast: REVIEW!**


	11. It's Ok To Cry

We had done it; we had faced one of our more dangerous cases. We fought against the demon, we were injured, battered and beaten, but we had won.

However, it had cost us a hefty price. We stood around a single hospital bed, the heart monitor making a flat line.

Naru sat with his chest bandaged up; the doctors said it had taken him around fifty stitches, maybe more. But they finally got him stitched up, an IV of blood dripped into his arm. He stared into space, trying his hardest to keep his monotone look, but we all knew he was hurting.

Lin stood next to him, sustaining the least damage I considered him lucky. But the exhaustion would soon catch up with him. His head was low and even now I could tell he was finding it hard to stand on two feet.

Masako sat in John's lap, both bandaged, John's foot rested on another chair opposite them and the two didn't dare look up into the bed. Masako's head was buried into his chest and every now and then a silent muffle of a sob came, along with some shaking.

Ayako had slumped down the wall, she hadn't tried to hide the tears falling from her eyes, they were silent cries. Her eyes were red and puffy, they arms crossed over her chest as she sobbed and sobbed. I wanted to comfort her, but my eyes were glued to the hospital bed.

I was the only one looking at it. I was the only one watching the lifeless form laying upon it, praying for a single movement in order to at least give me, give us, some hope that maybe she was still alive.

I heard John silently muttering his prayers, finally letting the tears fall from his eyes; Masako held his shirt tighter, Ayako finally closed her eyes and started to stand to her feet. Lin lifted his head and looked sadly at the bed, while a single tear escaped Naru's eyes.

"Monk," I didn't answer Ayako when she whispered my name. I was scared I would let my feelings escape me and they would end up causing me to break down.

"She's gone, we need to call a doctor," Ayako stated, I shook my head, closing my eyes and for a split second removing them from the bed.

The doctors had managed to stabilize Mai for a few moments. But they hadn't told us that, in those moments we all laughed, we all cheered, we were all happy, even Naru seemed to crack a smile.

Then the heart monitor began to go weak and Mai smiled sadly at us, her last words echoed in my mind for minutes afterwards.

"_Please don't cry for me, I'm glad you're all ok, and I can leave here now knowing that you'll be fine without me," _and then a small smile appeared on her lips and that was when she closed her eyes. Even know I could see the smile on her face, the sparkle in her eyes, she couldn't be gone, she just couldn't be.

A doctor walked into the room a few moments later, checked Mai over and apologised to us all. He slowly walked out, leaving us in the room with the unconscious girl, I wouldn't except that she was gone, I couldn't.

"Monk, everything's going to be ok," Naru spoke, he had wiped his eyes. I looked at him; my own eyes glistened with unshed tears.

"No it's not! How can you even say that! Mai is…. Mai is…." I couldn't say it, something inside me prevented me from saying it, I don't know why.

"Dead," the word echoed in my mind and I wanted to punch Naru. Masako looked up and glared at him.

"How can you say it like it's nothing?" she hissed, Naru shrugged, even though he was upset he had already accepted the fact.

"People die every day," he answered calmly.

"You weren't saying that when your brother died, Naru," we all looked at Lin in surprise, even he agreed with us.

"I may not have been able to say it, but I still thought it. Mai is gone, there is nothing we can do to change that, we have to carry on as normal," this time Naru's voice held more remorse and he seemed more sorry, but I still wouldn't accept it.

"We can't carry on as normal. Mai was our normal, she always will be, this team will crumble without her, it did once and it will again," I argued.

"Monk, I know you're holding onto the fact that she may come back, but this time she won't we don't know where she's gone this time, we'll all miss her dearly," Ayako had accepted it, but her voice cracked as she spoke. I clenched my fists, she can't be gone.

"Stop arguing," we all looked at John. "Whether Mai is gone or not, she is in a better place because she saved each and every one of us. Oliver, you have no right to say what you are saying, you owe her your life, she saved you. Monk, what happened before happened because she was taken somewhere she shouldn't have been, but now she is gone. It's something we'll have to learn to deal with, we won't be able to right away, but in due time we will," John's eyes never left Mai's face as he spoke. A single tear slipped from his eyes and Masako sniffed slightly.

"Mai is strong, she always has been, she knows we love her and we know she loves us. She'll know that for the rest of eternity," she added as she wiped her nose with a nearby tissue before standing up from John's legs.

I looked at the ground, my fists clenched harder than what they were before. I felt Ayako's hand rest on my back, while Masako's hand cupped my face.

"You've been strong for long enough Monk, it's ok," she whispered, Ayako gripped the back of my shirt. I looked into Masako's eyes and, without knowing what hit me, I started bawling like a child.

I fell to my knees, my face buried in my hands as I cried. Masako stood in front of me, stroking my hair, while Ayako knelt next to me and wrapped her arms around me.

* * *

Lin rested his hand on my shoulder as I watched Monk begin to cry his heart out. Inside, I was crying, my heart was aching and I was trying my hardest not to let that show, but Lin always knew me better than anyone.

His hand squeezed my shoulder and I had to take a deep breath in order to keep my emotions in. Lin squeezing my shoulder was always his way of letting me know it's ok to cry.

He did it at Gene's funeral that one time and I bawled my eyes out, he was my twin after all. But now I had lost Mai, a girl who was stronger than I had expected, a girl who had saved my life. A girl who had told me of her feeling before I left to go home and I had brushed her off.

Now she had been taken away from me, how would I ever tell her that I loved her? I wouldn't confess it to her now, or at the funeral, or at the tomb stone or when I was alone.

No, I wanted her alive in order to tell her. Heck I had made a promise before coming here to tell her myself, but then everything happened, and she was so cold and I'm not one to take rejection well and now she was gone.

I rested my forehead on my right hand, I was beginning to burn up, maybe I was just hot, I mean, there was no way I could be getting ill, not at a time like this.

"Naru, are you ok?" Lin asked, I nodded my head as I tried not to pay any attention to my burning mind. Maybe it was because I had just lost Mai, that must be why I was feeling so tired, so ill.

I knew one thing was for sure, I needed to puke. I quickly stood up and walked out of the room to the rest room silently, knowing that Lin would follow.

I sighed as I washed my face. Mai, you had to leave us didn't you? You had to be the most restless person I know and save me, didn't you? So I will always wonder now, if you ever really still had feelings for me, even after everything I did to you, because I will always love you Mai Taniyama.

I walked out of the bathroom, pulling the IV along with me, Lin waited outside.

"Naru-,"

"She's really gone, isn't she?" I asked as I looked at the floor. Lin rested his hand on my shoulder again, but I shrugged him off. "Don't," I whispered.

"Naru, it's ok to cry," was all Lin said.

"Cry? Don't you think I want to do that? Don't you think I want to act like everything's fine and this is just a bad dream? She's gone Lin and she's not coming back and none of this would have ever happened if we had just listened to Ayako and not tried to go on the case. It was me this thing was after and she sacrificed herself for me, I killed her Lin and nothing you say can make that any better," I argued, Lin looked at me. I looked down, a tear made its way out of my eyes and I quickly shook my head, making sure it fell to the ground.

"Naru, no matter what you end up thinking, Mai did what she did because she cares, that's the reason she sacrificed herself for you and none of this is your fault. You already blame yourself for Gene's death; don't let Mai's death get on your conscience. We knew this job was tough when you were the one attacked and we all stuck there, we all helped and we all got injured, but you're not putting that on your conscience. Mai was-,"

"Is," I interrupted.

"Mai _is _a strong person and no matter what happens she will always be in everyone's hearts. She will never truly be gone," Lin spoke with a tone of remorse in his voice, even if he didn't show it; he was just as upset as everyone else.

All I could do was nod my head and slowly, we walked back into the room where the others were.

"About time you got back," I looked up, someone in the room I had never seen before stood beside Mai's bed. Her hair was a light red colour, her clothes were torn and tattered and her eyes were covered up with sun glasses.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"She won't tell us," Monk growled.

"Ah, ah, now, now, be nice to me, after all," she removed her sunglasses, but her eyes remained calm. "I'm the only one who can bring back pretty little Mai here," when she opened her eyes, I took a step back. It looked like she had no eyes, they were black and the darkness make her eye sockets look hollow. We all looked at her in shock, but the girl just smirk.

I suddenly registered what she had said _"I'm the only one who can bring Mai back," _it echoed in my mind and soon a tiny glimmer of hope shined through, but the questioned remained.

Was she telling the truth?

* * *

**Monk: YOU DID NOT JUST DO THAT! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!**

***cries in corner* **

**Ayako: She's just as upset**

**Monk: I DON'T CARE! OUR POOR LITTLE MAI!**

**Masako: Monk, calm down**

**John: *sweat drops and looks at Naru* Well, even he's not taking this chapter so well**

**Naru: *stares into space***

**John: How about you guys just review and not attack the reader? Until next time**

**Cast: REVIEW!**


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